Tuesday: our day

Ahhh...today.  Good moments and not so good moments.

Isaac slept in, so that was rather nice since it took me a long while to get back to sleep last night.  He proceeded to empty the contents of his intestines into the toilet.  (He actually did a really good job today getting yucky stuff into to toilet...although by midmorning I'm not sure there was much left.)  I called the nurse and she gave us some advice, but it would mean a trip to the store.

At 9:30 we were about ready to go to the store and even had three of our four shoes on.  Then Isaac decided that his forth shoes should be put away.  I thought about life, and decided it would be much better if I lay down and rested...even if Isaac did only have one shoe on.  So it took us several additional minutes to get out the door, but we finally did.  We got all the recommended food and more diapers.

We got home and I was still exhausted.  Isaac watched some TV while I dozed.  Then lunch time!  Isaac still wasn't all that hungry and was happy to be done and take a nap.  He fell asleep almost right away and slept for 3.5 hours when I finally woke him up.

We played for a bit, the pile of "Dad's stuff" growing larger and larger by the door to the garage.  Dad got a giraffe, a piece of plain donut, several books, a sheep, and two blocks.  Isaac is big into sharing and taking turns with us lately, although I doubt that he feels the same way about kids his age.  At one point I said, "I need to get some medicine" and Isaac looked up at me and then ran off to get it for me without being asked.  What a nice kid.  He was also into locking and unlocking things, especially the flaps in one of his books.  The imaginary keys were in a different room though, so every time we wanted to open another flap it would take a few minutes.  I was ok with this plan though and enjoyed the rest.

Isaac did finally eat pretty well for dinner...the Crispex and yogurt hit the spot.  The end of the day involved a quick shower.  Isaac's intestines still don't seem to be working quite right so I didn't want to risk a bath, but he stank.  Throughout the day he was his normal happy self, so that was wonderful at least.

Monday: another first

We just had our first mid-night sheet changing experience. Isaac is having intestinal issues. But now I'm wide awake and can't get back to sleep.

Sunday: dinner

Usually we don't have a lot of trouble getting Isaac to eat, even if he does eat slowly.  Not so tonight. (We were watching Top Gear, but we usually eat with dinner.)

I told him what was on his plate and said, "Does that sound good?"  "No" was the respond.  "Too bad," I said.

I looked over at him a few minutes later to see that he had pulled out a chunk of hair and was licking it.  Yuck.  "Why don't you eat some food?"  Isaac eats one curd of cottage cheese.

A few minutes later..."Can you eat some food?"  Isaac eats one curd of cottage cheese.

A bit later...I see him lick a piece of pizza.

Ben says, "Can you take a big bite?"  Isaac eats about four curds of cottage cheese.

Isaac picks a microscopic something off his pizza and shows it to me.  "What's this?"
"Nothing."
"What's this?"
"Nothing."
"What's this?"
"Sausage.  Can you eat it?"

Isaac starts to bang his elbows on the tray.  "Ouch!  Belbow!  Kiss!"  After three kisses I tell him no more kisses.  Of course, he keeps banging.  I hide behind a pillow and blanket and pretend to sleep, letting Ben deal with it.

Ben gets him to eat his half banana by stopping the show every minute until he puts a banana piece in his mouth.

Sigh.  I don't mind if Isaac doesn't eat all his food, but it's nice when he eats some..especially when he didn't have a big lunch either.  He did however have plenty of energy after dinner, as he ran laps around the house for several minutes.  (Every time he passed his robot he would pause, pick him up, show him to Ben, put him down, and keep running.)

Friday: laughing

Tonight after Isaac's bath Isaac declared "Silly dada"  right out of the blue.  Since Ben was still upstairs, I brought Isaac over to see if we could figure out why Ben was silly.

Ben: Is Mom silly?
Isaac: No
B: Is Isaac silly?
I: No
B: Is Dad silly?
I: Yeah! (Laughter)
Amanda: Who's the silliest?
I: Mama's hair

Ben and I crack up at this, which causes Isaac to do a sort of fake laugh.  So Ben and I laugh harder which causes Isaac to do more fake laughing.  We haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Thursday: moving

This pregnancy is marked by a resistance to movement. Over and over again I don't feel well but get up for some reason ( tonight it was to turn off the lights) only to find myself throwing up 30 seconds later.

I had figured this out a while ago, but have been feeling well enough that I thought I could chance it...and I would have felt really dumb texting Ben to come upstairs and turn off the lights in the bedroom.

But...I should have asked him to turn off the lights.

Wednesday: tantrum

For the most part, Isaac is a pretty laid back kid and easily distracted when he thinks something went wrong.  Today we probably had our longest tantrum to date and he would not be distracted.  It all started when we went to get the mail...

Isaac got distracted by the walk to the front door, so I went to get the mail myself.  He came down thirty seconds later and wanted to get the mail.  So we put it back in the mailbox and took it out again.  (It was a rather uncomfortable position to hold him in.)  But then he wanted to put it back in.  I said no, and so for the next fifteen minutes all I heard was "IN PLEASE".  At one point I thought he was going to give into the classic tantrum on the ground, but then he remembered what he was crying about and stuck the mail in the door, trying to get it as close to the mailbox as possible.

He finally stopped when he randomly decided to brush his teeth.

Monday: hearts

Isaac has been partially potty trained for several months.  In that he'll go if we put him on a toilet and he knows if he has had an accident, but we couldn't get over the hurdle of having him tell us he needed to use the bathroom prior to having an accident.

I'm hoping that finally changed this weekend.  (I know, I might be jinxing myself by typing this up.  After all, it's only been three days of no accidents.)  I started giving him the Valentine's Candy hearts as a treat for sitting on the toilet.  He loves them!  He's even managed to tell us a few times that he needs to go to the bathroom by using his new key word: heart.

Image source - Necco hearts from Wikipedia

So if you're near him and he suddenly starts yelling "Heart!" it doesn't mean that he loves you.

P.S.  I was especially excited today when Isaac's daycare gave us more hearts!  I only had a small box that was going to run out today, but now I have enough for a week...I just need to order them off amazon, since I doubt any place still has them.

Sunday: rhyming

Shower, flower, and star...Isaac manages to rhyme all of those words together.

Saturday: drying and waves

Isaac has found a new game.  He pretends something is wet and then runs it to the humidifier in his room (which as a fan) to dry it off.  This game is especially fun if Ben or I are in the shower...then his thing (often a duplo) can get sprinkled with water and he has to run across the whole house to get it dried off too.  I'm going to admit...this is one of my favorite games too. :D

I also saw the baby moving via some stomach ripples today.  Isaac had an anterior placenta so I didn't feel or see him move as much.  This baby has a posterior placenta, so I feel him a lot more.  Seeing the baby move today was rather weird, but also cool.  I poked him back to say hi.

Wednesday: lines

I drew some free-handed straight lines very well on a computer.  It was actually quite amazing and my class cheered for me.

Tuesday: your name

Ben and I were playing a game with Isaac...

Card: say your name
Isaac: dada, mama, my name

Sunday: nap

After being so tired after church, Isaac decided he didn't really need a nap.  He feel asleep during dinner, an hour and a half before his normal bed time.  We put him to bed, hoping that he won't wake back up.

Little vampire

Isaac has not been enjoying the bright sun that we've been having lately, and car rides tended to look like this:



(Since he has better motor skills now, he is in charge of putting the blanket up and down.)

So I got him some sunglasses, and now he looks like this:



We tried them out on one ride and they worked quite well. And they stayed on the whole time!

Friday: dinner

Tonight was the first time in a long time that we've gone out for dinner as a family (just the three of us).  It was nice...and delicious.

(Although don't get me wrong, we've had a lot of carry-out lately.  Hopefully we can reduce that a bit soon though!)

Thursday: groceries

I've noticed that when I'm pregnant I tend to buy things that I would otherwise pass over.  They are things that I still would eat (and enjoy) as a non-pregnant person, but I just don't buy them.  Here are a few of them:

Juice
Raisin Bran
Yogurt covered raisins
Carrot cake
Egg salad
More juice
Sour candy

Wednesday: continued

Today was an extremely nice day.  Following the ultrasound I had the day to myself, with the exception of a short appointment in the afternoon.  It was raining and I didn't have any significant plans.  Ahhh.

I waited for Ben to get home to tell Isaac that he was going to have a brother so that we could both laugh at how underwhelmed Isaac would be.  And that's just how it was.  Isaac has trying to get Ben to chase a paper fish that [Isaac] was holding and didn't care about the baby at all.  (Yeah, we did a lot of chase this afternoon...I was chased by the paper fish, I chased the giraffe, Isaac chased the giraffe, frog chased the giraffe, giraffe chased frog, giraffe chased sticker.)  We told him again a bit later but it just seemed to go over his head.

Wednesday:ultrasound

This morning was our 20 week ultrasound.  The baby was moving the whole time!  Measuring in at 21 weeks it's a little earlier than my official due date but spot on for what I think my due date should be.

The profile (head and chest)

Straight on (face and upraised arms)

Feet

And we found out it's a boy!  I'm rather excited about that, but Isaac will be (somewhat) distraught.

Tuesday: calculording

It's a math app. Ben tells Isaac what numbers he thinks they should add/subtract/multiply and Isaac agrees (every time). I have a cute video too, but have forgotten my YouTube password and am in bed so you just get a picture.

Monday: spring break

Today I didn't have classes because of break.  I still brought Isaac to daycare; I felt a little weird doing it but not too much.  I spent some of the day doing chores that don't work very well when Isaac is around and just enjoyed being alone.

Saturday: cutting

Isaac helped me get ready for Bible Study on Sunday by cutting the strawberries into small pieces.  It's part of my initiative to have him learn how to use a knife so I have one less thing to worry about.

Ben managed to capture the 13 seconds where it looks like Isaac really knows what he's doing.  Most of the time I was reminding him about how to actually cut.

Sunday: an unexpected parenting task

This evening I itched my child's butt for him.  He was able to articulate the problem, but did not have the dexterity needed to actually do it.
I laughed the whole time, even though it was serious business.
Update: apparently I failed and had to try several more times. I finally put some diaper rash cream on it and put him to bed with an itchy butt.

Friday: halfway

Today not only marks the half circle day (Pi day), but it also marks the halfway point of this pregnancy.

It seems a little like cheating since the first four weeks I didn't know.

But I hope that the baby is laughing and saying that I missed the halfway point by several days.

Thursday: moves

Isaac felt the baby move today. He probably expected it to be like every other time I've tried to have him feel the baby moving, but this time the baby cooperated. His eyes got very big.

Wednesday: not TMI

I told one of my classes that I was pregnant, and so today when I walked in a few students were like "Oh, I can see the baby!"

I was proud of myself - instead of saying, "yeah, but being pregnant is rather miserable.  I threw up twice yesterday and can't get comfortable sleeping" I searched something good to say.  "Yeah, it's fun to see.  And my husband can feel the baby moving now."

No need to traumatize them, even though I'm not really a fan of being pregnant.

Tuesday: soup

This afternoon Isaac and I were playing soup.  (I.e., we both had cups and we both had spoons and we were eating soup.  Fun for the first fifteen minutes.)

At one point I took a bite of his soup without asking.  His eyes got very wide, he backed up a few steps and said, "No.  My soup.  Mama's soup (pointing to my cup)."  So today was the first day that I was chastised by a toddler for eating the wrong imaginary soup.

He did share later.

Sunday: movie night

Saturday: the rest of the day

I'm sad to report that the rest of the day didn't get much better, but we all survived. We put Isaac down for his nap and he proceeded to have huge laughs for the next 45 minutes...all he had was a book, a frog, and a monkey, so we're not really sure what was so funny. Ben eventually took the book away from him and that brought a lot of "my book!" and tears...but he did eventually get to sleep.

Jamie and Jim watched him for about an hour before dinner and that was so nice too...the day was just not working for Ben and me.

Saturday morning: birds

This morning I wish I was a bird. They get their offspring out of their body relatively quickly and then anyone can help keep the eggs warm.

Instead of having nasty throw up sessions while hoping your two year doesn't freak out on the toilet.

I'll admit, I thought this morning was going to be fine be it has quickly gone downhill. Baby says hi though.

Friday: curry

Isaac and I finally made another batch of curry today. I got smart and decided to make it in the morning so I could just reheat it for dinner as dinner time comes around and I haven't been feeling great.

Isaac was a good helper. I gave him a (butter) knife (for the first time) and he attempted to cut onion. He wasn't very good, but it kept him occupied. Most of his tasks were of that nature. :D




He also put the cut veggies in small containers so he could dump them in the pot and removed the bullion wrappers.

It's a lot more fun cooking with help!

Thursday: zoo

We went back to the zoo today...it's the day that "zookeeper" Katie is there and she's very nice. Last week the big snake was out and it definitely made an impression on Isaac... He talked about it all last week and for about half the ride to the zoo.

Today the chinchilla out was getting her exercise in a ball, but Isaac really wanted the snake out again. So I told him that he would have to ask if the snake could come out. He did! I was a little surprised since he sometimes gets shy, but I guess he really wanted to see the snake. Unfortunately the big snake was resting happily, but we did get to see the little snake. It was an acceptable substitute.

Here's to more (Isaac) hisses around our house.

Tuesday: speaking clearly

Let's face it; Isaac doesn't speak all that clearly. Ben and I can often understand him, but it's because we know that E-OO stands for robot and op stands for open.

This week's verse often sounds like this..."create in me a pure heart oh dog and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

At least God can understand him too.

Monday: voices

Today started a new half semester and with it, a new room and new students.  I was teaching away when I hear a familiar voice nearby...Dad is teaching in the neighboring classroom.  Kind of weird, but rather fun too.

Sunday: mine!

Isaac has definitely figured out what my and mine means, although he sometimes uses them in funny ways...

Amanda: Do you need help brushing your teeth?
Isaac: MY teeth!!
Amanda: Yup, I agree.  They're your teeth.  But do you need help brushing them?

Saturday: sick

I'm afraid to announce that our household is rather sick.  Everyone has a cold.  I am pregnant.  Ben's back is sore.  Isaac is being two, which is rather fun but has led to a surprising number of tears.  Sometimes I wonder if he's getting enough sleep...or if it's just a two year old thing.

Anyway, we know it's just temporary and will pass, but it is rather annoying in the meantime.

Friday: B verse

Amanda: Be
Isaac: Be
A: Kind
I: Kind
A: To
I: To
A: One
I: Three
Ben: hahaha
A: Another
I: Another

It's been a little surprising...he's been able to remember better than I expected and sometimes will say the words with me instead of just after me.

Wednesday: blarg

Today I was feeling stretched. Very stretched. As in, "it hurts to walk." I had this one morning a few weeks ago, but it left after an hour. Today it stayed around. I actually called the doctor. (Side note: I feel like a first time mom I've called the doctor so much this pregnancy.). She said it was normal, but might take a few days to go away. I could take tylenol and walk around with my hand supporting my belly. (Walking like that makes me feel obviously pregnant.)

But it just tops off a week were I haven't been feeling very good anyway. I thought I was supposed to be better by now.

Tuesday: sister

Isaac is convinced that he is going to have a sister. (Although Ben and I aren't convinced that he really knows what that word means.)

Yesterday he drew (and erased) a picture of his sister on his easel. This morning he told me that he wanted to pull his sister's hair. As we were looking through a book of baby animals he thought they were sisters.

The work sister has been coming out unprompted more and more. Good thing we're going to find out the gender soon so that if it's a brother we can help him get used to the idea.

Monday: afternoon

This afternoon was rather rough of Isaac, and I'm not really sure why. The tears came so quickly over the smallest things. But it gives me more chances to hug him. :D

The funniest was when he through a red 2x2 Duplo toward me. Duplo throwing is prohibited, so I took it away. He got so upset.the only thing I could think of was that he had about 20 more unused red 2x2 duplos still sitting in the box and he should go get one of those. Of course, I didn't say anything because that would ruin the teaching moment he was so kind to give me.

Speaking of teaching, I've found that some things are really, really hard to teach children...or at least Isaac. What items are ok to throw? When you're putting a puzzle together, what clues do you look for? When is it ok to hit people (like in football)? There are so many things to teach that I don't have good explanations for.

Sunday: 17 weeks

Not a great picture, but the bump seems to be growing rather quickly. My normal shirts are starting to have a hard time covering it, which is super annoying.

Saturday: scary and not scary

Isaac has been discovering the emotion "scared" and it's rather interesting to watch. If he sees something scary on TV he puts his hand over his mouth. (And what he finds scary often surprises me...I try to anticipate it but yesterday gave up while watching Lilo and Stitch because too much was scary.). Then this morning I told him not to push the carbon monoxide alarm because it would be scary and he immediately sat in my lap and wouldn't leave until we went up stairs.

This evening Ben and I went to see the Lego movie. It was great. I don't think I've laughed that much at a movie...ever. There were a lot of kids in the audience and it was interesting to see what they laughed at versus what we laughed at (many things were the same).

Friday: laundry

Today Isaac and I put away some laundry. He really enjoys putting away laundry. We finished two baskets and I asked him to put an empty basket back in the laundry room. I went over a minute later and discovered he was trying to get the third basket of laundry out. I was done with laundry, so I told him to leave it there and figured we'd go do something fun.

It led to tears. Lots of tears. So I changed my mind...if he really wanted to do laundry, maybe we should. Of course, I had nothing that he could put away so I gave him the job of sock matching. It took him a while to figure out what was going on, but by the end he was getting the hang of it.

I guess he has yet another chore he can help out with now!

Thursday: pants

I'm sure you've all been anxiously awaiting the conclusion to the story i started this morning...who would go through more pants today?

I went through more pants, with a total of two. The second pair had to be changed because of slush and they were just way too wet to wear. Isaac only went through one pair of pants due to puddles...we worked on the end of the driveway a bit and the puddles were just too much fun to stay out of. And once you go in one you might as well go in a lot.

So somewhat surprisingly Isaac didn't have any accidents today. That's not a foregone conclusion these days, even though he's been getting better on the toilet. It probably happens only 33% of the time with 33% of accidents happening near bedtime when he's tired and the other third at random times. He's told me about twice before he needs to go to the bathroom...he could still work on that but it at least shows that he's getting the idea!

In other news, because I'm sure you don't really care that much about Isaac and the bathroom, he went to bed early tonight. About ten minutes before bath time I told him it was almost time and he was ready to go! Then he took a really short bath, even when I told him he'd have to go to bed if he got out. And after reading our two books I asked him if he wanted to get in the crib. Usually he says no and we cuddle for a few more minutes, but today he said yes. I didn't think we did anything to wear him out so much today, but I guess he was tired!

Thursday: bathroom

Isaac seems to finally gotten over his bathroom relapse and is doing much better lately. (I will note, he started to get better around the time I started to feel better, so I'm wondering if I'm better at putting him on the toilet regularly and that was the main problem. But I digress.)

So far today Isaac has had zero accidents. I have had one...the sneeze just came out of no where! I feel as though I should get an m&m for the rest of the day when I do get to the toilet.

We'll see how the rest of the day works out. :D

Wednesday: legs

My weirdest pregnancy symptom is feeling as though my legs are too short. The same thing happened with Isaac.

Ben said his legs feel too heavy tonight. Now I know where my lost leg length is going.

Wednesday: emotions

Oh, sad emotions got the better of me today. I got home from work, got frustrated with the USPS, Isaac had a bathroom accident, I had a headache, and the plow had come through. (Seriously, what was the plow thinking.)

I can probably blame these emotions on being pregnant, although I expect I would have felt the same way no matter what. But what good is being pregnant if you can't use it as a regular excuse for your behavior?

Tuesday: annoying

Today was rather annoying, but I feel as though I just need to get over it.

Monday - A

Driving back and forth to where ever we're going Isaac does a lot of imitating what we say...the alphabet, do-be-do-be-do, numbers, etc.  I realized that this could also be a good time to start learning Bible verses.  Sure, he can't even do the alphabet yet, but it is a good time to start the habit.

So may we present A.

Friday: puzzles

Today we were trying to clean up the house as guests are coming tonight. The problem was that for every two things I put away, Isaac took one out. At one point he wanted to take out a puzzle (that I had just put away) and I said it was ok as long as he put them away. He agreed.

Fast forward several hours and three puzzles later. He still hasn't put his puzzles away, and we're getting down to the line. So instead of putting the pieces away, he starts to put himself in timeout. Which works at first, but quickly becomes a game.

I threatened to put him to bed early. I would have down it, but he finally made progress. Phew.

Wednesday: OB appt

The baby is still alive! The heart rate was 154. It's a little sad that I don't have anything else to report, but that is part of the problem with growing something inside of you.

Well, I could report that we have an ultrasound on March 19. But even that isn't really news.

Tuesday: outfit

Isaac picked out his outfit today.



Light Pajama pants with moose, a small onesie with monkeys, and pirate socks. Not what I would have picked out since it was cold out and he doesn't wear onesies anymore, but since he brought all the right pieces to me he got to wear it.